Tour de France - prediction

A very quick prediction from the sofa cyclist, after everyone's well-considered and in depth Football World Cup predictions (and congrats to Karen S who did really well in her Cambridge YLE yesterday ON TOP of getting France in the sweepstakes!)

The peleton is coming home, my friends, in a UK tricolour. Before the real action starts in the hills today (yes, the rough stuff was very grim on Sunday), I'm calling it for Wales and a G spot on the top of the podium in Paris. Yes, Team Sky will have to back the new lad in order to keep Adam Yates at bay.

1. G Thomas
2. A Yates
3. C Froome

Unfortunately, my man Cav seems to be off max gas this year, but I'll still back him for the last sprint down the Champs Elysee. And the Union Jacks will be flying in France...remember mystic Jim said it first!

By the way, two excellent podcasts for anyone interested...

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pcb42
• https://www.itv.com/tourdefrance/podcast

2018 World Cup progress report for Group F; week2

So far in group F, there have been 4 games. The most exciting game was Germany vs Sweden. The final score was 2-1. When Toivonen score 1 goal at 32 min, it seemed many people imagine Germany might loose again like the game with Mexico. However, Reus scored 1 goal at 48 min and the score was 1-1 at half-time. After half-time, Toni Kroos scored golden goal extra time. In the other games, Sweden beat South Korea, and Mexico beat Germany and South Korea. These teams have not played each other yet: South Korea vs Germany Mexico vs Sweden I think Germany definitely beat South Korea and Sweden will might beat Mexico, or even. This will mean that Mexico win the group and play the runners-up of group E in the round of 16, and the runners-up will play the winner of group E. I think the round of 16 games will be Mexico vs Switzerland & Germany vs Brazil. My prediction for the quarter finalists is that Mexico & Germany will progress.

FIFA World Cup Predictions Group B

Sorry for my late predictions… The games have already started!!  Please allow me to predict from next games.

There are Portugal, Spain, Iran and Morocco in Group B.  I think Portugal will be top in the group and must go to next stage.  The other team should be Spain, but I am not really sure about that.  It is because that the coach was replaced with new one just 2 days out from the 1^st game.  It may affect the team, but it would not be serious.  I think Spain will probably go to next stage with Portugal.

On June 20^th, Portugal and Spain will have the games with Morocco and Iran respectively.  Portugal will beat Morocco 5 to 0.  Christiano Ronald may turn the hat trick again.  Spain will beat Iran 3 to 1.  I hope Andres Iniesta who is traded to Vissel Kobe recently might score at least 1.

On June 25^th, both countries will have the last game in the group.  Portugal will probably beat Iran 3 to 1 and Spain will beat Morocco 2 to 1.

Portugal might have the game with Russia which is host country at round of 16, beat and then go to Quarter-final.

World Cup Predictions for Group D - Yumi the pundit

The teams of group D of World Cup soccer, 2018 is Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, and Nigeria.
I’m estimating the result of games of group D as follows.

In the game of Argentina VS Iceland, Gylfi will score two goals, but Messi will score 3 goals, so Argentina might beet Iceland.

In the Croatia VS Nigeria, Mikel will show his excellent performance and he would lead the win of the game by one to zero to Nigeria.

Nigeria will show their fundamental power in the game with Argentina.
They would control the game in the most of time, but they may lose one score at 20 mins in the second half. It is unfortunate but Nigeria may lose the game by one to three.

Finally, I estimate that Argentina will be the first and Croatia will be the second in group D.
They will go to next stage of game.

FIFA World Cup Group G expectation!

Group G has England, Belgium, Panama, and Tunisia and two of these countries go to the next round. 
Let me remind you of the FIFA ranking of these four countries: England #12, Belgium #3, Panama #55, and Tunisia #21 (June 7, 2018).

I abandon Panama and Tunisia because they will probably lose or possibly draw the match with England and Belgium. It is the first world cup for Panama and it has been more than a decade since Tunisia was qualifier in 2006. England and Belgium are way too good for them.

I learn about England players and compare them with Belgium players with my fair point of view.

What I know is that they both belong to UEFA group and have star players. However, I found that Belgium has a major anxiety and England has a significant strength.

On one hand, Belgium may possibly lose the match with Panama and Tunisia since Belgium rely on their star players individually. On the other hand, as England tried different formations and tactics against interior countries during qualifying matches they should not lose against Panama and Tunisia.

With all my respect to the president of Luna International, England will certainly finish Group G tournament in the 1st position.

I expect to see who would be the next Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane or Raheem Sterling. It will certainly the best if Kane would become the best scorer and Sterling would make the most assists.

If I were wrong, I will definitely finish my reading assignments by the end of the last match between Panama and Tunisia in Group G, which is on June 28. 

Off topic but Vauxhall has been the sponsor for four nations in the UK. German car maker, BMW , is one of the sponsors for Belgium national team. How could England possibly lose against Belgium? 

Reiko's World Cup 2018 prediction - Group A

World Cup 2018 will be started today! Here is my prediction for group A.

There are 4 countries in group A as below

1.  Russia - Host country - FIFA ranking 70th in the world. There is no star player but the strongest point is the host country. The power of audiences could help the team to win. They might score 2 goals against Saudi Arabia and win a game as FIFA ranking is almost the same. I think Russia team will probably lose the other games considering FIFA ranking.
2. Saudi Arabia FIFA ranking 67th in the world. There is also no special player in this team. They may score 1 goal at least to any of team but I think Saudi team might not be able to the next state.
3. Egypt FIFA ranking 45th in the world. The forwarder, Mohamed Salah Ghaly is the most famous player who belongs to Liverpool. But he got his shoulder injured and could get in the game of Russia. So I think Egypt will probably win Russia team and score 3 goals. But they might lose Uruguay team at the first game because Salah might not be able to get in the game. 
4. Uruguay FIFA ranking 14th in the world. There are two star players; Edinson Roberto Cavani Gómez who belongs to Paris Saint-Germain and Luis Alberto Suárez Diaz who belongs to Barcelona. As Cavani and Suarez are forwarder, the offensive strength is very good, they will probably score more than 4 goals in the group stage. On the other hand, defensive strength is also good because of goal keeper, Néstor Fernando Muslera Micol. 

Uruguay team will probably finish the first round at the top of Group A.

Our predictions for the future; teen voices

In class, Akiho, Miku and Mizuki interviewed each other about their thoughts for the future. As a follow up, I asked them to write down their ideas for next class. We spent that next class putting their ideas together into sensible topic groups in Prezi (a wonderfully easy bit of kit!) and dragging in some artwork & video to emphasise the pionts they wanted to make. They particularly enjoyed being able to collaborate, as they used two PCs in the classroom and worked on different parts/gave each other feedback & pointers. I think Prezi is a superb way for them to showcase their ideas - and encourages them to come up with more ideas as there is a lot of real estate that they can cover!

Please have a look, tell them what you think?

Our opinions about the future on Prezi

PS. Yes, the Star Trek link was my contribution :)

Your predictions

Image via Wikipedia

Here is some analysis of your expert predictions for the Football World Cup in South Africa - thank you for all your clicks!

• Group A: An amazing 45% thought France would win this group. They came bottom and only just managed to score a goal near the end. Typically ungracious guests, spoiling the host's party. They do win best comedy act of the world cup though, and made England look good by comparison.
• Group B: 60% of you chose Argentina, who have some brilliant players but an insane manager (see previous posts about him). Are they fragile at the back?
• group C: 0% selected USA, who fully deserved to go through, and should have won their game with Serbia except for inexplicable reffing. England? My observant 10 year old student explained "They're crap". Kid will go far!
• Group D: Depressingly, 75% called Germany to win. What a surprise, we (England) get to put them in their place in the next round. 12 years ago I was doing shots of Jameson's (Irish whiskey) through the penalty shoot out with Sean. Ghana is not a chocolate bar.
• Group E: Only 47% said Holland. Maybe the other 53% wanted The Netherlands? Will Japan meet 31% expectations tonight (and beat the Danes...like England did in Niigata in 2002)? I think so.  Good joke I heard today: "If Japan had a Prius up front instead of a Honda, would they be unstoppable?" Gambarre Nippon.
• Group F: 83% said Italy. They're rubbish! I'd love to see the Kiwi's get into the next round but Paraguay are too good.
• Group G: Only 61% thought Brazil would clean up in this group? Any change of heart? They're looking strong.
• Group H: The Swiss probably gave the Spaniards the wake up call they needed. 89% of you figured they'd make the last 16 as winners of this group. Chile should join them (one of my dark horses).

Next challenge is to predict who will fill the semi-final berths, to be played on July 2nd.